


once upon a time

by khrysopos



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Comments are appreciated, F/M, Fanstasy, Haikyuu - Freeform, Semi is a dragon doing what dragons do; sleeping on a pile of gold and kidnapping princesses, haikyuu au, more friendship than romance but ehh, semi eita - Freeform, they're friends though so it's fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26700595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khrysopos/pseuds/khrysopos
Summary: The dragon kidnaps the princess, what else is new.
Relationships: Semi Eita/Reader
Kudos: 32





	once upon a time

**Author's Note:**

> As always, you can find me on tumblr at gorgondemi (I'm certainly raving about Uchihas).

Semi Eita was a hoarder by nature.

Since birth, he enjoyed being alone, or rather he had learned to enjoy being alone, such as were the circumstances from his birth up until a few years back. As one of the last specimens of a dying breed Semi quickly gained an understanding of how things in the world worked so he could survive in its harshness, because even if killing a dragon of his caliber was nearly impossible, it was doable nonetheless —if one had the right skill and the right aim, those big, black arrows could cause such inconceivable grief on his scales.

He kept to himself mostly and survived off eating livestock here and there (dragons didn’t need much food to survive from the beginning anyway), doing what every other dragon was known to do; find an opulent pile of gold and jewels and every other kind of gemstone decorated trinkets to spend the rest of his life sleeping on, spending his days in a laze, drifting in and out of consciousness, and fully submerging himself in his appealingly fictitious dreams.

Hardly the most exciting prospect, but perhaps one of the safest for him. Semi wasn’t in any hurry to die.

Well, that is to say, at least until she stumbled upon his humble treasury, dressed far too highly for someone who seemed to be running through woods and brute landscape in the harsh weather. Marred with dirt and cuts and bruises, the young woman –child, really– had taken one glance at his scales, grey and tipped black and gold, before promptly passing out, right in front of the great dragon who, only minutes ago, had been snoozing his days away.

Semi hated humans, he despised humans, he didn’t like eating them, he didn’t like interacting with them. He supposed the same went for them as well, though the letter never hesitated on brutalizing the corpses of his brethren for spoils, most of which mainly included sharp razor like teeth and the scales which were worn like diamonds among warlocks and kings.

Fickle, foolish beings. Filled with much too pride for their small fleshy bodies to hold, and yet…Semi digressed.

He supposed she was different —if only slightly. For such a small being, even amongst her species, she was far too loud on occasions. She was clumsy and always seemed to sport a number of new injuries whenever she sneaked away to see him. She was...Well, he supposed she was everything she _shouldn’t_ be for someone holding the title of the ‘Princess of The Four Lands’. But she was also commanding in her own wickedly innocent way, unaware of what she was doing or how her actions and facial expression affected the dragon laying underneath the glistening mountain of golden jewels and trinkets. At first, the small princess was a nuisance, a thorn in his hide. She knew of his existence and that alone should have raised his hackles, alerted him to the dangers his situation could’ve possibly brought him.

So what if she was small and clumsy, barely mature enough to fit properly on that ridiculous extravagant dress she’d complained about numerous times? So what if she was attentive, to a dragon the size of a whole mountain no less. She’d foolishly bring books of every kind and just read, sometimes in a small murmur, loud enough for him to hear and –begrudgingly at times– follow the plot of the book, while other she’d simply keep the inked words closely to herself and her heart, lying in a small pile of golden coins and jewels she had made for herself despite Semi’s obvious disgruntlement at having _his treasure, his property_ , being touched by a snotty fifteen year old.

He let her be though, telling himself that it was simply because her taste in books was riveting if nothing else —even if she read him a cookbook one time out loud.

(Semi didn’t know if she did that on purpose or if she genuinely took interest in making profiteroles.)

As days turned to months and as months turned to years the little princess grew, as did her boldness. Semi found himself trapped in the invisible cage of quandary; he wanted her gone from his run down, ready-to-crumble palace —he wanted to spend the rest of his existence sleeping and enjoying the feeling of golden coins and sparkly jewels underneath him, slipping between the cracks of his scaly armor. But, he also found solace in her presence, little by little, so much so that the dragon was, admittedly, stunted by how quick she warmed him up to her.

She was a lonely kid though, sad. Semi could see that much. More than once he’d caught her eyes staring at the page of a book, yet unmoving and seemingly looking through the text as if she were somewhere else in spirit. Or he’d catch her simply gazing at golden fingered dawn with her rose hues of light through the hole he made in the wall as the sun’s reign came to an end, something vulnerable deep within those eyes that if rattled with enough force, she’d break.

Those blank looks of her, Semi hated those the most.

He’d much preferred the little twerp when she was stumbling around his treasure looking for all sorts of diamonds and moonlight shaped crowns to admire (she’d tried to sneak out a crown once, thinking she was slick enough to go unnoticed. One breath from him and she had the precious golden piece on the ground and her on her knees, apologizing profusely), or when she’d be smiling as she recalled something funny that might have happened to her that day or week. Her eyes sparkled the most then, two jewels of their own.

Not that Semi was going to admit any of this to her though. If she happened to catch on to his... _vulnerability_ , then fine —he’d let her believe what she wanted.

Semi Eita was stubborn and hot-blooded. He had a short temper in regards to everything. But, most of all, _he did not like people touching or claiming what he regarded as his_. And, the small princess that stumbled upon his crumbled palace, the same girl he watched grow up to become a fine young woman with ambitions and dreams of her, eyes as sparkly as jewels and far more precious than any piece of gold inside of his treasury —well, he considered her to be his as well, so when she came home one day, crying and sobbing incoherently, Semi found that he had never quite forgotten the feeling of white hot pure rage that seemed to bloom inside of his chest at the sight of her tear stricken face, the palace floor rumbling simply from his soft growling.

He inquired of her then, “who made you cry? What happened?” More vicious than he might have liked at the time (he never was one to have a way with words), evident in the guttural growl caught in his throat that had the columns shaking dangerously, but the princess didn’t mind; she never did.

She confided in him.

An arranged marriage.

He nearly scoffed at the lack of novelty in the news, crossing his front legs and resting his giant head on them so he was eye level with her, puffing small and comforting –he assumed– hot breaths in her direction to calm her down, flaring out his wings in an easy stretch. It seemed to do the trick, the girl reaching out and scratching his much bigger than her body snout. Semi registered her touch like he always did, with a soft purr only reserved for her in hopes to get a chuckle out of her, maybe have her tease him. If that’s what it took to calm her, Semi would gladly take the brunt of her goading, if only for a little.

“I think,” she’d whispered then, looking in his sharp brown eyes with such a look that nearly made the dragon wheeze in despair, “this will be the last time. I am sorry, Semi. I kept it from you for as long as I could, but tomorrow is…,” she trailed off after that, eyes like moonlight filled gemstones becoming heavy with debilitation.

He rumbled lowly, with softness so she could fill it in her bones. She laid on her small pile of gold –the same one she’d made all those years back– and as sleep overtook her for what it seemed to be the last time on his hoard of gold and other treasures, Semi Eita made up his mind.

No amount of gold or gemstones filled with the light of the moon herself could make up for her absence, Semi simply could not imagine his existence without her there. Without her books, her soft, absentmindedly humming which he constantly claimed was annoying but never failed to fall asleep to, her bright smiles and, last but not least, her sly shenanigans to which she had dragged him on multiple occasions.

Semi had lost count of how many knights and other silly men he had to ‘fight’ in order to keep the supposedly kidnapped princess in his house for more than a day. She had informed him of a new saying in her kingdom that sprouted one day; _if the princess gets kidnapped by the dragon, it must’ve been a Friday._

He asked why Friday, for no other reason than that he just simply wanted to, and she replied, “Friday is easily the happiest day of the weak, why not mar it with tragedy?” He had been a terrible influence, Semi decided, or that was simply all her. She seemed the type to do these sort of things here and there, just for the gratification of her own personal amusement.

Why, yes. Definitely a treasure of incalculable worth. And his, for now and forevermore his. Semi cared little if he sounded selfish, less so if he _did_ something selfish. 

She knew that, really —so, it wasn’t really his fault for crashing her wedding the very next day and kidnapping her again. The fact that the wedding was on a Friday made things so much better, comically wise.

Of course, the humans were prepared for him this time as well, sporting black arrows made of the heaviest metal known to man. Those could easily kill him in one fell swoop if Semi wasn’t careful, and all that trouble would be for nothing. Much to his amusement though –and to their dismay he gathered– they didn’t have enough practice with the humongous bows tied to the tall towers, so every time a black arrow came at him Semi only had to lean a little to the right, or a little to the left to avoid them, duck if need be.

He didn't bother with noting the blinding white decoration hanging from the citadel that made his eyes sting as he ripped the roof of the castle apart with ease, his brown narrowed into slits set on his prize and his prize only. 

However, that proved to be his mistake also. He didn’t notice that in his stillness there was an arrow notched on the bow in one of the arrows. Sharp pain pierced his side and Semi roared. He vaguely heard her scream as people started running here and there, out and about.

He felt blood spill from the wound; thick and hot, hotter than the fire brewing in his belly threatening to spill like lava from his mouth. The stingy smell of metal hit his nose as Semi effortlessly ripped the arrow out, allowing more blood to gush from the wound. It was deep, but his anger at the time exceeded its depths. He made a grab for her, wrapping his claws around her small form, dressed from head to toe in that despicable white color, and took to the skies.

(she’d argue later that his scales were white as well only to have him snap that they were _light grey, thank you very much!_ )

It didn’t take long for him to reach the castle, squeezing between the opening he had made on the wall and letting her flop on top of the mountain of gold –somewhat carelessly, he admitted– before he stretched his wings again. With one swoop Semi was gone again, the shrill protests of his treasure falling into deaf ears.

The ruins of his castle weren’t far from her kingdom. It would take the humans less than half a day to catch up to them and Semi knew well enough not to burn them down, or hurt them in any way, least of all his most precious treasure got mad at him. That’d be troublesome he reasoned with himself, so Semi didn’t...He did however set the forest that lay in between ablaze with an inferno of fierce ruby red fire.

At least, that would earn him a day or two to lick his wounds before he could fly with ease again. 

When he went back to the ruins and squeezed between the wall for the second time that day, wincing at the burning in his side, he plopped down and let out a tired huff, smoke puffing out of his nostrils as he closed his eyes to rest. It was then that something hit him square in the eye. And then again, them again, again once more, and then—

“What are you doing?!” He roared at the girl in the white ghastly wedding gown. In response she glared – _adorable_ – and picked up something else from the ground, a heavy looking crown, and threw it at him again. Semi breathed fire and molten gold liquid splattered on the ground, inches away from his face.

Ah, she seemed so upset, she was yelling at him, “you _imprudent_ little oversized rodent! What the hell?!” Her gemstones shined with unshed tears, the salty smell hitting his nostrils, “What was that about?! You just– just up and left me here, witless worm!”

If it was anyone else, Semi would have long now turned their bones into ornaments. But this was none other than her, _herherher_ , so he allowed himself to be the outlet of her rage. She was raving, arms flailing around and looking as ridiculous as ever. Semi let her pour it all out; all her anger, pain, worry. Whatever it was that was inconveniencing her mind and body at the time.

“I thought you were dead.”

Those words were spoken in a hushed whisper and Semi found himself tuning in to the incontrovertible strain in her voice —choked up and on the verge of already spilling tears. The saltiness stung in his nose, but the dragon was scarcely minded. He’d take her tears and anger and pain as it was because _she was there with him_ , and not with some other bag of flesh, probably far too haughty for her anyways.

Still, he found his heart twisting uncomfortably at her confession, his eyes snapping wide open into slits. Semi was sure his whole body had stilled, his breathing too. “I am not,” he stated rather poorly. He’d never seen the princess so distressed before and the dragon was unsure on how to proceed, never been one good with words.

She came near him then, wrapping her small human arms around his neck that was on the ground, laying on his front legs as usual. Her very soft, very _unfortified_ arms. Unconsciously, Semi folded his claws into his chest and away from her body. He had spilled enough blood for the both of them already.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Again, her words were soft, the affection in her tone as clear as stars in the night sky. His pain gave way for the giddy placation in his chest, unfamiliar for the most part, but welcoming nonetheless.

“It was Friday, I couldn’t break tradition.”

She laughed, a choked, strained sound, and Semi couldn’t feel the softness of her hands around the armor of his scales or the wetness of her tears, but he felt her warmth seep through and that was enough for him.

When morning came and an army burst through the room, they found nothing but specks of blood, a room filled to the brim with treasures and jewels and a variety of merciless goods, along with a familial white wedding gown, shredded and burned upon the pile of gold. 

Semi and the princess were long gone, flying further and further into far away lands, mysterious and unknown. It was fine, Semi placated himself. He had his most essential, most valuable piece of treasure on his back, clutching on his bright grey scales and humming out a familiar tune.


End file.
